Dentocraniofacial variables, with emphasis on the cranial base, will be studied in normal children. Long-term growth patterns of individual children will be analyzed using well-established statistical techniques in addition to others that have become available recently. In addition, the study will include interrelationships between variables at particular ages, changes in these relationships across age and effects on growth patterns of factors that influence other aspects of physical growth. The existing long-term serial cephalometric radiographs allow analyses of secular changes and intrafamilial and intergenerational studies relevant to genetic effects (e.g., parent- child comparisons); the latter will be studied also employing recorded genetic markers. The effectiveness of serial data, of recorded maturity ratings, e.g., skeletal age, menarche, and of mathematical models in craniofacial growth prediction will be determined. The findings will be valuable to human biologists and will assist the clinical work of orthodontists, speech therapists, pediatricians and nutritionists. These professional groups require additional knowledge of craniofacial growth, its correlates and determinants. Within the craniofacial region, the cranial base has been relatively neglected, despite its importance in the growth of both the cranium and the face.